Missouri Compromise

American  

noun

U.S. History.

1. an act of Congress (1820) by which Missouri was admitted as a Slave State, Maine as a Free State, and slavery was prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36°30′N, except for Missouri.

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Missouri Compromise Cultural  

1. A settlement of a dispute between slave and free states, contained in several laws passed during 1820 and 1821. Northern legislators had tried to prohibit slavery in Missouri, which was then applying for statehood. The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, and prohibited slavery in territory that later became Kansas and Nebraska. In 1857, in the Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court declared the compromise unconstitutional.

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Example Sentences

But beginning around 1820, the year of the Missouri Compromise, slavery began to dominate American politics, suffusing even issues that one might think were unrelated, such as federal funding for infrastructure projects.

From Salon • Jul. 26, 2025

There was one big problem: James Madison and several others involved in drafting the Constitution were still alive and kicking in 1820, when the Missouri Compromise was debated and passed.

From Salon • Dec. 16, 2023

But the issue was supposedly resolved with the Missouri Compromise, which admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state.

From Salon • Dec. 16, 2023

To please the South, he included a provision for popular sovereignty over slavery, which removed the guarantee of free soil provided by the Missouri Compromise.

From Textbooks • Jan. 18, 2018

If true, this story deserves to rank alongside the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850 as one of the landmark accommodations in American politics.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis